Vermont news

Follow @NewsVermont_

• Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver: Don’t weaken our public schools

  12-03-2025 12:09 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is Caitlin MacLeod-Bluver of Moretown. She is an English, history and reading teacher at Winooski High School and 2025 Vermont Teacher of the Year.I proudly say to anyone who will listen that I have the best job in the world. As a public school teacher, I get the honor of working with our brilliant youth and passionate teachers every day. It thus pains me when I read Gov. Phill Scott and Sec. Zoe Saunders’ education reform plan that hurts the very institution it claims to w
  
  Read more

• Bruce Lierman: Will your town die for lack of a sewer system?

  13-03-2025 12:06 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,In a recent VTDigger article, journalist Carly Berlin reported that several small communities were resisting efforts to build wastewater and water infrastructure. In some cases, the towns were returning funds provided for this purpose. The reason for this resistance is that, with this improvement in infrastructure, the town is obligated to allow a higher development density in designated downtown and village center areas served by the new infrastructure.Look at your current main stre
  
  Read more

• Lucinda Johnston: Vermonters showed JD Vance what makes them special

  13-03-2025 12:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Lucinda Johnston of Wallingford.In anticipation of JD Vance’s family ski trip to Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott said that “while we may not always agree, we should be respectful.” He also asked Vermonters to “join me in welcoming them to Vermont, and hoping they have an opportunity to experience what makes our state, and Vermonters, so special.” Well, we did. Hundreds of Vermonters gathered near Sugarbush to tell Mr. Vance, peacefully and respec
  
  Read more

• Catherine Machalaba: Protect Vermonters, our health depends on climate action

  13-03-2025 12:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Catherine Machalaba of Norwich. She is a member of the Vermont Public Health Association. Growing up in Vermont, summer rain was always calming — the comforting sound of steady drops against the metal roof, cooling things down and immediately brightening the green landscape. These days, rain brings more uncertainty and lately, fear. We’ve always had storms, but climate change affects rainfall patterns, making storms more severe. Since the 1960s, averag
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Vermont’s US senators have taken different positions on some Trump nominees

  13-03-2025 11:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. Photos by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerWhile Vermont’s two delegates to the U.S. Senate have been united in their opposition to many of President Donald Trump’s actions early in his second term, they’ve staked out different positions on some of Trump’s picks for top roles in his administration.Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., has backed seven of the 21 Trump Cabinet nominees that the full Senate has taken up so far. (All 21 have been confirmed, with varyi
  
  Read more

• Final Reading: Health care workers still face threats and attacks in Vermont’s hospitals, advocates say

  12-03-2025 23:30 via vtdigger.org
  
  An entrance to the emergency department at the Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerOver the past few years, hospital emergency rooms — in Vermont and beyond — have seen an increasingly disturbing condition: an “epidemic of violence,” as Liz Couto, an emergency department nurse and chair of the Vermont Emergency Nurses Association’s government affairs committee, put it Wednesday. Across the U
  
  Read more

• House bill would add floss and 2 more products to Vermont’s PFAS regulations

  12-03-2025 23:17 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo via Adobe StockThe House Environment Committee voted Tuesday in favor of advancing H.238, a bill that would further phase out the sale and production of consumer products containing added PFAS, a class of thousands of hyper-durable chemicals linked to a host of cancers and health issues in humans. The bill would expand the state’s existing limits on PFAS-containing consumer products to include a ban on manufacturing and selling cleaning products, dental floss and containers line
  
  Read more

• Ex-Stowe man denies charges in double homicide that could carry the death penalty

  12-03-2025 22:38 via vtdigger.org
  
  The U.S. Federal Building, Post Office and Courthouse in Burlington on Nov. 20, 2009. Photo by Mfwills via Wikimedia Commons BURLINGTON — A former Stowe man has pleaded not guilty to upgraded federal charges in the 2023 fatal shootings of two Massachusetts men in Vermont that could result in the death penalty, if convicted.A federal grand jury last month returned the new indictment against 29-year-old Theodore Bland leading to a video arraignment Wednesday in federal court in Burlington.Bl
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Phil Scott plans to veto budget adjustment over motel program and spending 

  12-03-2025 22:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  Gov. Phil Scott delivers his budget address at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Jan. 28, 2025. Photo by Brian Stevenson / Vermont PublicThis story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and Vermont Public.Lawmakers gave their final stamp of approval to a midyear budget tuneup Wednesday afternoon. But hours earlier, Gov. Phil Scott told reporters he planned to veto the bill once it arrives at his desk, making it his first rejection of
  
  Read more

• Vermont Conversation: ‘Another World is Possible’, says journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata

  12-03-2025 20:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  
  Photo and image courtesy of the authorThe Vermont Conversation with David Goodman is a VTDigger podcast that features in-depth interviews on local and national issues. Listen below and subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts.Americans have come to assume that heavy medical debt, unaffordable housing and lack of quality child care are normal features of life. Is there another way?Journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata traveled the world to find out
  
  Read more

• Middlebury College, facing antisemitism investigation, is among those warned by Trump administration 

  12-03-2025 19:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Middlebury College campus on June 23, 2018. Photo by Kenneth Burchfiel/Wikimedia CommonsMiddlebury College is among 60 higher education institutions that received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education on Monday, warning of “potential enforcement actions” if the schools do not take sufficient action to protect Jewish students on their campuses. “The Department is deeply disappointed that Jewish students studying on elite U.S. campuses continue to fear for their saf
  
  Read more

• A future teacher finds the financial and logistical flexibility she needs to succeed

  12-03-2025 14:52 via vtdigger.org
  
  Yvonne Roberge likes to call her own plays. As an aspiring elementary school teacher, that trait drew her to Montessori-style self-guided classrooms. As an athlete, it made her a great fit for point guard in basketball and midfield in soccer, both of which take charge of ball distribution. And as a rising college freshman, it led her to make a last-minute change, opting for the scheduling flexibility of an online program rather than the traditional dorm-and-classroom lifestyle. Making
  
  Read more

• Jan Steinbauer: Is the Vermont tradition to welcome or to scare?

  12-03-2025 12:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Dear Editor,Recently, an asylum-seeker family was detained by Customs and Border Protection near the Vermont-Canada border. After 30 hours’ detention with little to eat or drink and mats on the ground to sleep on, the wife and three small children were released. As of this writing, the husband is in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, his fate unclear despite his and his family’s asylum case being in process. This story is frightening immigrants across Vermont.Individuals pe
  
  Read more

• Richard Witting: The shameful state of Native American affairs in Vermont 

  12-03-2025 12:04 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Richard Witting of Burlington, a Vermont historian whose research focuses on Abenaki history and the related topics of eugenics, disability, and institutionalization in 20th-century Vermont. On Feb. 19, he spoke at the State House about the rewriting of Vermont’s eugenics history, a concern first acknowledged by the state’s attorney general in 2002. In 1759, Colonial troops burned the Abenaki village of Odanak (St. Francis). The people there at the time wer
  
  Read more

• Sec. Sarah Copeland Hanzas: Celebrate Civic Learning Week, March 10-14

  12-03-2025 12:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont’s 39th secretary of state. She was a teacher, coach, small business owner and an 18-year member of the Vermont House before being elected as secretary of state in 2022.This week is Civic Learning Week! This annual celebration of the importance of civics is an opportunity to sustain and strengthen democracy in the United States. “Civics” means understanding the five freedoms promised to us by the First Amendment: freedom of re
  
  Read more

• A spark that ignited a revolution

  12-03-2025 11:55 via vtdigger.org
  
  An artist’s rendering of the original Westminster courthouse, site of the Westminster Massacre on March 13, 1775. Image courtesy of Robert F. Smith/The CommonsThis story by Robert F. Smith was first published in The Commons on March 5.WESTMINSTER — It’s not a generally known fact of history unless you happen to be from southeastern Vermont, but a strong case can be made that the first armed conflict of the Revolutionary War did not take place at Lexington or Concord in Massachu
  
  Read more

• Final Reading: During their week off, lawmakers had varied success recharging

  11-03-2025 23:31 via vtdigger.org
  
  Residents listen to discussion during Cambridge’s town meeting on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerTown meeting: A hallowed tradition. A time for homemade pies. And for Vermont’s citizen lawmakers, an annual respite during the busy middle of the legislative session. But the break, it turns out, isn’t always so restful. “It’s hard to disconnect before crossover, because it becomes so intense. So you’re kind of thinking about it,&
  
  Read more

• Immigrant rights groups push for new protections in state law

  11-03-2025 23:26 via vtdigger.org
  
  Jill Martin Diaz of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project in Burlington on Monday, February 10. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerMONTPELIER — A group of organizations that advocate for immigrant rights in the state are urging Vermont lawmakers to pass a slate of bills they say would bolster protections for communities they serve — and counter recent changes at the federal level.“We’re just asking the state to make sure there is some accountability,” said Jill Martin D
  
  Read more

• Senate committee backs Zoie Saunders for education secretary once again

  11-03-2025 23:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  The Senate Education Committee holds a hearing to consider the appointment of Education Secretary Zoie Saunders on Tuesday, March 11. Photo by Ethan Weinstein/VTDigger“Over the past year, I have done what I said I was going to do,” Zoie Saunders, Vermont’s secretary of education, told lawmakers on the Senate Education Committee Tuesday as they considered her appointment as the state’s top public education official for the second time in less than a year. And by and l
  
  Read more

• Chloe Goodrich Schwager

  11-03-2025 22:44 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born June 22, 1936Northfield, VermontDied March 2, 2025Danbury, ConnecticutDetails of servicesA celebration of Chloe’s life will be held at Mount Hope Cemetery in Northfield, VT, on July 5th, 2025.  For more information contact Sally at SalarooCT@aol.com.Chloe Goodrich Schwager, age 88, passed away peacefully after a long battle with Alzheimer’s on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at Maplewood Senior Living in Danbury, CT. Born on June 22, 1936, in Northfield, VT, she was the daughter of
  
  Read more

• Vermont reports case of measles in school-aged child 

  11-03-2025 22:11 via vtdigger.org
  
  A representation of a measles virus particle. Image via the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionThe Vermont Department of Health has confirmed a case of measles in a school-aged child in Lamoille County — the first to be discovered in 2025. The unnamed child became sick after travelling internationally with family. The risk to the public is believed to be “low,” but Vermonters who may have been exposed to the child at the Copley Hospital emergency department may need
  
  Read more

• Norwich University faces another lawsuit alleging employment discrimination

  11-03-2025 22:07 via vtdigger.org
  
  Norwich University in Northfield on Tuesday, October 8, 2019. File photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerA former faculty member sued Norwich University Monday, alleging that the Northfield military university discriminated against her because of her gender and the fact that she is a Turkish immigrant. Pelin Kohn, a former chair of Norwich’s Leadership Program and a Montpelier city councilor, alleged that university administrators had passed her over for positions, demoted her and engaged in
  
  Read more

• Richard Wallace Turner

  11-03-2025 21:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Dec. 24, 1935Montpelier, VermontDied March 7, 2025Burlington, VermontDetails of servicesIn lieu of a traditional funeral service, Richard requested that friends and family gather
  to celebrate his life and raise a glass or two to remember the good times as he felt
  fortunate to have had a “long and good life.” To that end, family and friends are invited
  to celebrate Richard in the Montpelier Room at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Montpelier on
  Sunday, March 16, 2025 from 12 to 3 PM. H
  
  Read more

• Vermont news media ask the state to buy local

  11-03-2025 20:00 via vtdigger.org
  
  Photo by Arthur Franklin/UnsplashThis story by Jenny Blair was first published in The Bridge on March 10.State lawmakers introduced a bill that would require the state government to spend more of its advertising money with Vermont news organizations. House Bill H.244, “An act relating to State contracting standards for advertising,” would direct more state ad dollars to local print, digital, radio, and television outlets.“We are asking only that the state of Vermont practice wh
  
  Read more

• Vermont’s newly formed Animal Welfare Division hires its 1st director

  11-03-2025 17:08 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont Division of Animal Welfare Director Lisa Milot. Photo courtesy of the Vermont Department of Public SafetyThe Vermont Department of Public Safety has hired Lisa Milot as the first director of its Division of Animal Welfare, the department announced in a press release on Monday. Milot, a lawyer and academic originally from Georgia, is expected to begin her role in May, according to the release. As the sole employee of the new division, her first task will be to formulate a comprehensi
  
  Read more

• David Glenn Stevens

  11-03-2025 15:53 via vtdigger.org
  
  Born Dec. 6, 1947Brattleboro, VermontDied Feb. 28, 2025South Londonderry, VermontDetails of servicesA celebration of life will be held in the spring/summer. Dates will be shared soon for all of his family and many friends.David Glenn Stevens, born on December 6, 1947, in Brattleboro, Vermont, passed away unexpectedly following an eight year battle with Parkinson’s disease on February 28, 2025, in the comfort of his home. He was 77 years old.David’s entrance into the world was nothing
  
  Read more

• Mark O’Maley: Gov. Scott’s one-size-fits-all approach to education threatens to fail Vermont’s students and communities

  11-03-2025 12:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Mark O’Maley of Essex County. He has devoted 35 years to education, both in the public and private sectors, serving at the secondary and higher education levels across the United States and Vermont.Gov. Phil Scott’s proposal to restructure public education into five sprawling Montpelier-controlled school districts poses a considerable threat to the democratic values and traditions that Vermonters hold dear. Scott, who throughout his first eight years in off
  
  Read more

• Hannah King: The growing justice gap in Vermont 

  11-03-2025 12:03 via vtdigger.org
  
  This commentary is by Hannah King of Burlington. She is executive director of the Vermont Bar Foundation and a former Burlington city councilor. Justice should not be a privilege reserved for those who can afford it. In Vermont, the gap between legal needs and available resources continues to grow, leaving too many individuals and families without meaningful access to the justice system. This is not just a legal issue — it is a fundamental challenge to the fairness and integrity of ou
  
  Read more

• Latest state police disciplinary report shows suspensions and 3 resignations amid probes

  10-03-2025 23:14 via vtdigger.org
  
  Vermont State Police cruisers seen in Burlington on Thursday, Jan. 23. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerThe latest biannual report on disciplinary action taken against Vermont State Police troopers shows four violations of vehicle pursuit policy, as well as three cases where officers facing internal investigations resigned before reviews could be completed.The report from the Vermont Department of Public Safety and the State Police Advisory Commission covers the period from Jan. 1, 2024, through J
  
  Read more

• Proposed Vergennes youth facility will not include 18 and 19 year olds, officials say

  10-03-2025 22:35 via vtdigger.org
  
  A rendering of the proposed Green Mountain Youth Campus in Vergennes. Image courtesy of Vermont Department for Children and Families A Department for Children and Families official said that a planned Vergennes residential youth facility will not include space for older teens, backtracking on earlier plans to expand the campus. State officials are working on drawing up plans for the Green Mountain Youth Campus, a treatment center in Vergennes for “justice-involved youth” —
  
  Read more

Follow @NewsVermont_ on Twitter!